


Cel

by iwillsithereandtrytocontribute



Series: You All Speak Latin in My Dreams [5]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, No letter this time just Cel sort of reacting to the grief around them, Spoilers for Rome Arc (Rusty Quill Gaming), i know it's angsty i need the angst, mx. cel where is your backstory, unbeta'd we die like lads and/or blokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27764809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwillsithereandtrytocontribute/pseuds/iwillsithereandtrytocontribute
Summary: Cel wasn’t quite sure what to do. They had seen their fair share of loss... but this, this was different.
Relationships: Azu & Celiquilliton "Cel" Sidebottom, Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom & Oscar Wilde, Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom & Zolf Smith, Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom
Series: You All Speak Latin in My Dreams [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000185
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Cel

**Author's Note:**

> Wagashi are traditional Japanese confections that are often served with green tea. Daifuku in particular is a mochi (Japanese rice cake) ball stuffed with anko (sweetened bean paste). It's absolutely delicious, I would recommend it :) And Tanaka is a very common surname in Japan.

Cel wasn’t quite sure what to do. They had seen their fair share of loss. You can’t be alive longer than most humans and not lose people, not in their line of work anyway. They remembered those feelings well, grief, fear, even anger. They’d felt all these and more, but this, this was different. This was four people who’d lost someone they were close to grieving in very different ways. 

Hamid was all tears and blubbering. Cel could tell he wanted to be with people, but it wasn’t their place to offer a shoulder to cry on. Here was this little half-ling who’d experienced more adventure and joy and terror and loss than he ever had before, dealing with, from Cel’s limited understanding of the situation, two friend’s deaths on top of his sister’s and another of his friend’s. They bowed their head respectfully as they passed by Hamid’s open door, noticing Zolf’s presence inside. Cel gave a small smile. It’s good to have friends with you.

Azu was quiet, peaceful almost. Cel was sure she had cried, perhaps when the news had been broken. Her eyes were still red, tear tracks still visible on her dark skin. She too was new to grief. To lose her friend along with her world when she’d just ventured into it… Cel couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain she was in. They tried to give Azu the same respect passing by her corner, lingering only slightly to see if they were needed. They could tell Azu noticed them. Cel wasn’t the quietest person at the best of times. They shared a look that meant a multitude. 

_“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”_

_“I’m here for you.”_

_“Thank you.”_

_“I will give you time to grieve.”_

Cel noticed the stack of letters near where Azu knelt. A bittersweet, one-sided goodbye then. Cel had had their fair share of those as well. 

They passed Zolf again. His grief was well-worn. He, too, was one who’d grown familiar with death too early. There was a story to be told there when he was ready to tell it, and perhaps Cel would tell one in return. A bitter smile twinged at their lips. A grizzled, old seaman and an old, war-hardened alchemist swapping stories round the pile of letters from a long-dead friend. There was a joke to be told there somewhere. Zolf did not meet their eyes as Cel passed.

Wilde was the most interesting of all of them, and the most like Cel. He dove straight into work. Can’t feel if you’re busy, something like that. Cel knew it all too well, they had done it themself many many times. It was at Wilde’s insistence that they had walked through the inn at all. Until he’d asked them to meet him in his office, they’d intended on holing up in their own corner so as not to disturb the others.

Wilde barely looked up from a letter he was scribbling fiercely. “Thank you Cel, it was Cel right?”

Cel nodded before realizing he wasn’t looking at them. “Yes, Cel’s fine.”

“Wonderful, please take a seat.” Wilde gestured to the chairs across from him. As soon as Cel sat down he set down his quill and looked directly at them. “I would like to apologize for the rather strange event that occurred immediately after your quarantining. I had just received the letters from Curie and the Harlequins and I-”

“No need to apologize,” Cel cut in with a bit of a laugh. 

“Well, I wanted to assure you we would be setting to work and-”

Cel put their hand on Wilde’s when he reached over to pick up his quill again. “Wilde.” He locked eyes with them. Cel could see the deep, bruised purple underneath them and the still-angry red of the scar along his cheek. “Wilde, you need to rest. Take at least a day. I know you and Sasha meant a lot to each other.”

Wilde broke eye contact and pulled his hand away. “Pretty sure she found me insufferable actually.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Cel said with a grin. “Plenty of people think I’m insufferable, that doesn’t mean they don’t care about me. Take um, _oh god what do you use in English!_ Ms! That’s it! Ms. Tanaka down the street. She says I talk too much and spend way too much time on explosions (but I think I don’t spend _enough_ time on explosions or electricity for that matter). Anyways, she makes the best wagashi in the village and she knows her daifuku is my favorite, so she makes sure to set some aside for me when I come to visit. And-”

“Cel,” Wilde interrupted. “The point?”

“Right, right. The point is that Ms. Tanaka might complain about me and act like she doesn’t really like me, but she still remembers my favorite wagashi. And Sasha is probably the same.” Wilde stared at them for a minute. “Too much?” Cel asked. “I know I tend to go off on tangents.”

Wilde blinked a couple of times. “Oh no, that was… helpful actually. Thank you. You can- uh, you can go.”

Cel nodded, smiling genuinely for what felt like the first time today. “Alright well, good luck. Get some rest Wilde,” they said with a funky little salute as they left the room. 

“I’m fine,” Wilde replied reflexively. 

Cel couldn’t help but feel as though they’d said something they weren’t meant to by the look on Wilde’s face. It had suddenly scrunched up, as though he was in pain. _He’s fine_ , Cel thought as they walked away, _he’s fine_.

**Author's Note:**

> Wilde's letter will close out this series and will be the last chronologically (hence why Cel's came out first). I've had so much fun writing this series and I can't wait to finish with some lovely angst >:) You can find me on Tumblr @iwillsithereandtrytocontribute.


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